Yahoo Forum Archive

Hey guys,

Tanaqui has just posted to new FAQs that I want everyone to look at. One
is about a new feature that will be available in a few weeks, and
another is about a MEFA rule people tend to forget about.

A few comments about these FAQs....

**********************

"Someone left me a review, and I'd like to reply to it. How do I do this?"

http://mefawards.net/MEFA2008/index.php?page=FAQvoting&lang=english#vot_20

This FAQ relates to a new feature that will be available in a few weeks,
when votes start showing up. Due to popular demand, we're going to give
authors a way to reply to their reviews this year.

(Please note, this function isn't available yet as reviews won't be
displayed for a few more weeks; I'm just telling you about it now so
you're prepared.)

Authors, when you are logged in, you will see a link beside your reviews
to "Reply to Reviewer." Clicking that link will open up a pop-up window
that will give you instructions how to reply to reviews. Essentially you
will write up a review and email it to me (using a special subject line
the site generates for you so I know exactly where to send it). I'll
skim the review to make sure it's not a spam or a flame, and if
everything's kosher I'll forward it on to the reviewer.

When you do this the reviewer will get your email address, so they can
reply back (if they choose to do so). I won't tell you a reviewer's
email address because I take member privacy seriously, but if they
choose to reply back, obviously you'll get their email address from them.

I hope you find this feature useful.

********************

"Can I encourage people to vote for a specific story?"

http://mefawards.net/MEFA2008/index.php?page=FAQvoting&lang=english#vot_19

It is natural when you are first nominated to want to tell people. This
is fine. However, to keep the awards fair, it is against the rules to
actually ask people to vote for you - what we call vote solicitation. If
you ask current members to vote for a story (yours or someone else's),
or if you ask people to join the awards specifically to vote for a
certain story, that's vote solicitation.

The first time this happens we'll give you a warning. It really is
tempting to do, and you may not even be aware of the rule when you first
join the awards. If you're contacted by a MEFA volunteer asking you to
remove a comment, please do so.

There are penalties if you continue to do this, or if you refuse to take
down an inappropriate comment when asked to do so. These include having
your story withdrawn and/or losing your voting/nominating privileges. If
you're unsure of whether a comment would be crossing the line, feel free
to email mefasupport(.at.)mefawards(.dot.)net to discuss it.

***************************

If you have questions about either of these issues, please let me know.

Marta

In a message dated 6/6/2008 6:58:01 PM Eastern Standard Time,
melayton@gmail.com writes:

There are penalties if you continue to do this, or if you refuse to take
down an inappropriate comment when asked to do so. These include having
your story withdrawn and/or losing your voting/nominating privileges. If
you're unsure of whether a comment would be crossing the line, feel free
to email mefasupport(to email meto email mefasupport(
I am just curious as to how that differs from posting those Nomination
Banners?

I do understand that recommending fics on one's website is a no-no (although
I wish it were not, since I'm big on expressing my opinion. As everyone who
knows me knows.) But putting a big splashy banner on all one's nominated
stories seems to be a plea for a vote at least the same or more so to me (except
you can only recommend your own that way and not those of others).








**************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with
Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4?&NCID=aolfod00030000000002)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Oshun,

That's actually a good question; I'm glad you asked.

A banner (or just telling people that you've been nominated) is kind of
like a personal squee. It's an author being excited --and rightly so--
that they've been nominated. It may draw attention to a story, but it
doesn't actually tell people to go vote for it. And there's the difference.

Actually asking people to go vote for you... that feels more coercive
somehow. Even if the author doesn't intend it that way (and I'm sure
most don't), it asks the author's friends to go vote for a particular
story. It's a bit of a fine line, I know. But one is just an author
being proud that she's been nominated, the other is actually asking
people to go vote for you or for a specific someone else's stories.

The bottom line?


* Saying you've been nominated = good.
* Congratulating other nominated authors = good.
* Telling people to go vote for those stories = bad.

Marta

> I am just curious as to how that differs from posting those Nomination
> Banners?
>
> I do understand that recommending fics on one's website is a no-no
> (although
> I wish it were not, since I'm big on expressing my opinion. As everyone who
> knows me knows.) But putting a big splashy banner on all one's nominated
> stories seems to be a plea for a vote at least the same or more so to me
> (except
> you can only recommend your own that way and not those of others).
>

In a message dated 6/6/2008 7:11:49 PM Eastern Standard Time,
melayton@gmail.com writes:

* Saying you've been nominated = good.
* Congratulating other nominated authors = good.
* Telling people to go vote for those stories = bad.



OK. Well, at least the rules are clear. I guess the motivation seems murky
or grey to me. But nevermind! LOL It's not like any of us can take out an ad in
the New York Times or threaten anyone!



**************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with
Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4?&NCID=aolfod00030000000002)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Oshun,

After I sent my last email I thought of something else. You say that
"recommending fics on one's website is a no-no" - which may be where
some of the confusion comes in.

Not every recommendation you write up would be against the rules. You
know that I fairly regularly write up fic recommendations in my blog. It
also shouldn't surprise you that most of my fanfic reading during the
half-year or so that the MEFAs are going on is devoted to stories
nominated in the MEFAs. (Not all, but most.) So it shouldn't surprise
you that many of the stories I rec in my blog happen to be nominated in
that year's MEFAs - not because I'm trying to get them more votes, but
because I (like you) like to share my opinion, and because those are the
stories I'm doing the most time reading.

I'm careful not to suggest that people run over and vote for those
stories. I don't even mention that they're in the MEFAs. (And not every
story I rec is a MEFA story, since I *do* make time for some non-MEFA
reading.) I actually discussed with the volunteers whether it was okay
to do this because I wanted to make sure I wasn't breaking the rule
without meaning to. And the decision was pretty much unanimous: as long
as I didn't ask people to vote for the stories, it wasn't vote
solicitation. Ergo, it was fine for me to write those reviews.

Remember what I said earlier:

"* Telling people to go vote for those stories = bad."

If you aren't asking anyone to go vote for a specific story, you're
probably okay. If you want to be sure, I'm happy to look at whatever
you'd like to post and tell you if it's okay or not. But really, so long
as you stay away from asking for votes, it's probably not vote solicitation.

So go ahead and share your opinion! I don't want to suck the fun out of
the awards - I just want to keep them as fair as possible, while letting
people get excited at the same time.

Marta
heartofoshun@aol.com wrote:

>
>
> I do understand that recommending fics on one's website is a no-no
> (although
> I wish it were not, since I'm big on expressing my opinion. As everyone who
> knows me knows.) But putting a big splashy banner on all one's nominated
> stories seems to be a plea for a vote at least the same or more so to me
> (except
> you can only recommend your own that way and not those of others).
>

In a message dated 6/6/2008 7:36:52 PM Eastern Standard Time,
melayton@gmail.com writes:

"recommending fics on one's website is a no-no" - which may be where
some of the confusion comes in.



That definitely was a confusion for me. I thought I could only do that in
the off-season and was planning on trying to put up some recs of my current
newly-discovered favorites before the nominations started and I missed my
personal deadline.



**************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with
Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4?&NCID=aolfod00030000000002)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

heartofoshun@aol.com wrote:

>
>
>
> In a message dated 6/6/2008 7:36:52 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> melayton@gmail.com <mailto:melayton%40gmail.com> writes:
>
> "recommending fics on one's website is a no-no" - which may be where
> some of the confusion comes in.
>
> That definitely was a confusion for me. I thought I could only do that in
> the off-season and was planning on trying to put up some recs of my current
> newly-discovered favorites before the nominations started and I missed my
> personal deadline.
>

Sorry you were confused! Just to be clear: as long as you don't actually
tell people to go vote in the MEFAs for those stories, you should be
fine to rec them. Go spread the joy, whenever you get around to it.

Marta

In a message dated 6/6/2008 7:44:36 PM Eastern Standard Time,
melayton@gmail.com writes:

Go spread the joy, whenever you get around to it.




LOL. Exactly: whenever I get around to it! I only had half a year already.
But thanks for the explanation. Now if I don't get around to it, I have nobody
to blame but myself.



**************Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch "Cooking with
Tyler Florence" on AOL Food.
(http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4?&NCID=aolfod00030000000002)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I have a question relating to the recent episode at Stories of Arda.

I see that the links to this year's nominated stories have all been replaced... kudos to whoever did that, and so quickly! My question is... what about the archived stories? Is there a way for them to be replaced as well?

Thank you!

-------------- Original message --------------
From: "melayton@gmail.com" <melayton@gmail.com>
Hey guys,

Tanaqui has just posted to new FAQs that I want everyone to look at. One
is about a new feature that will be available in a few weeks, and
another is about a MEFA rule people tend to forget about.

A few comments about these FAQs....

**********************

"Someone left me a review, and I'd like to reply to it. How do I do this?"

http://mefawards.net/MEFA2008/index.php?page=FAQvoting&lang=english#vot_20

This FAQ relates to a new feature that will be available in a few weeks,
when votes start showing up. Due to popular demand, we're going to give
authors a way to reply to their reviews this year.

(Please note, this function isn't available yet as reviews won't be
displayed for a few more weeks; I'm just telling you about it now so
you're prepared.)

Authors, when you are logged in, you will see a link beside your reviews
to "Reply to Reviewer." Clicking that link will open up a pop-up window
that will give you instructions how to reply to reviews. Essentially you
will write up a review and email it to me (using a special subject line
the site generates for you so I know exactly where to send it). I'll
skim the review to make sure it's not a spam or a flame, and if
everything's kosher I'll forward it on to the reviewer.

When you do this the reviewer will get your email address, so they can
reply back (if they choose to do so). I won't tell you a reviewer's
email address because I take member privacy seriously, but if they
choose to reply back, obviously you'll get their email address from them.

I hope you find this feature useful.

********************

"Can I encourage people to vote for a specific story?"

http://mefawards.net/MEFA2008/index.php?page=FAQvoting&lang=english#vot_19

It is natural when you are first nominated to want to tell people. This
is fine. However, to keep the awards fair, it is against the rules to
actually ask people to vote for you - what we call vote solicitation. If
you ask current members to vote for a story (yours or someone else's),
or if you ask people to join the awards specifically to vote for a
certain story, that's vote solicitation.

The first time this happens we'll give you a warning. It really is
tempting to do, and you may not even be aware of the rule when you first
join the awards. If you're contacted by a MEFA volunteer asking you to
remove a comment, please do so.

There are penalties if you continue to do this, or if you refuse to take
down an inappropriate comment when asked to do so. These include having
your story withdrawn and/or losing your voting/nominating privileges. If
you're unsure of whether a comment would be crossing the line, feel free
to email mefasupport(.at.)mefawards(.dot.)net to discuss it.

***************************

If you have questions about either of these issues, please let me know.

Marta



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hiya PipMer,

That's a good suggestion. I don't think any of us thought of that, but
it would be a good change to make.

I've brought this suggestion to the attention of Tanaqui and Aranel, and
hopefully one of them will make the change in the next few days.

Marta

debnear@comcast.net wrote:

>
>
> I have a question relating to the recent episode at Stories of Arda.
>
> I see that the links to this year's nominated stories have all been
> replaced... kudos to whoever did that, and so quickly! My question is...
> what about the archived stories? Is there a way for them to be replaced
> as well?
>
> Thank you!
>

Thanks, Marta!

I"ve been reading some of the previous years' winners, that's why I mentioned it. It's easy enough to search on SoA by title and author, but it's just convenient to be able to click on the link, of course.

-------------- Original message --------------
From: "melayton@gmail.com" <melayton@gmail.com>
Hiya PipMer,

That's a good suggestion. I don't think any of us thought of that, but
it would be a good change to make.

I've brought this suggestion to the attention of Tanaqui and Aranel, and
hopefully one of them will make the change in the next few days.

Marta

debnear@comcast.net wrote:

>
>
> I have a question relating to the recent episode at Stories of Arda.
>
> I see that the links to this year's nominated stories have all been
> replaced... kudos to whoever did that, and so quickly! My question is...
> what about the archived stories? Is there a way for them to be replaced
> as well?
>
> Thank you!
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi PipMer

> I have a question relating to the recent episode at Stories of Arda.
>
> I see that the links to this year's nominated stories have all been
> replaced... kudos to whoever did that, and so quickly! My question is...
> what about the archived stories? Is there a way for them to be replaced
> as well?

Thanks for reminding us we needed to do this!

I've now updated the links at the archive so they should point to the
stories again. Let us know if you come across anything weird.

And I'm glad to hear you're finding the archive useful. Aranel did a
wonderful job of putting it together.

Tanaqui

Thank you, Tanaqui! Everything seems to be working fine.

Yes, I do find the archive very useful. There are tons of stories there, just waiting to be sampled and enjoyed!

-------------- Original message --------------
From: Tanaqui <tanaqui@blueyonder.co.uk>
Hi PipMer

> I have a question relating to the recent episode at Stories of Arda.
>
> I see that the links to this year's nominated stories have all been
> replaced... kudos to whoever did that, and so quickly! My question is...
> what about the archived stories? Is there a way for them to be replaced
> as well?

Thanks for reminding us we needed to do this!

I've now updated the links at the archive so they should point to the
stories again. Let us know if you come across anything weird.

And I'm glad to hear you're finding the archive useful. Aranel did a
wonderful job of putting it together.

Tanaqui




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]